Tag: sharing

As summer ends a hymn to challenge us – The Christ was a vagabond

As we begin (for Methodists, a new Methodist year this hymn challenges us, not to look at others, but to be honest about our own faithfulness to the example of Jesus.

The Christ was a vagabond, penniless stranger, 
or so some would style him, deriding his call. 
And those who would follow, were they any nearer 
the total self-giving, of giving their all? 

And we at this moment, are we any better? 
Our silver excuses, have we got it right? 
The poor are still with us? Then love of our neighbour 
is vacuous, meaningless, blinding our sight. 

The wealth of this nation is at our disposal, 
yet few hold the purse strings, have power to decide, 
while others are crippled. Iniquitous ‘sharing’ 
will leave them impoverished, nowhere to hide. 

With wages and taxes we barter for people, 
define what is poverty, pity the poor, 
but then, when the homeless and helpless come knocking, 
we bar them from pavements while locking the door. 

We bathe in hypocrisy, claim to be righteous, 
great God will you open our eyes to the plight 
of those we have damaged, derided, diminished: 
the Christ in the other, still hid from our sight. 

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 2017 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Words © 2017 © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Metre: 12 11 12 11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO

Not pushing for favours – hymn

Not pushing for favours – a hymn reflecting on Luke 6: 20 – 22

Not pushing for favours, nor craving acceptance, 
but waiting in line for our moment to come, 
and then love exalts us, affirms and promotes us, 
yes this is gospel the, the source and the sum.
	
God raises the humble, the poor and afflicted, 
the ones that society longs to despise. 
God's values are different from those we might cherish.
God sees the down-trodden and wills them to rise.
	
And this is our calling, to set the example, 
the gospel imperative lived out through grace, 
to turn the world over till those who are hungry 
can feast at the banquet prepared in this place.
	
The table is open, all people are welcome, 
the children are dancing, the frail have found care. 
The world and it's bounty is here for all people, 
with no one excluded, where all learn to share.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 12 11 12 11
Tune: WAS LEBET WAS SCHWEBET

As published in The Seed now https://www.theworshipcloud.com/







Hymn responding to Ms Steph Bryant’s Seminar for Bramhall Methodist Church Climate Change Series

Ms Steph Bryant 
Youth and Schools Programme Co-Director, 
The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion

Our view of the stars fosters wonder, through grandeur: 
the sense of a cosmos within God’s embrace;
from infinite chaos we’ve grown on this planet 
to learn, live and care, an inquisitive race.

We thrive as God nurtures our fragile existence, 
our life is related to all life on earth, 
and each generation must deepen in knowledge, 
yet guard against arrogance in our own worth.

God give us compassion to live with our neighbours, 
to value each species, conserve, and renew; 
to challenge those actions that lead to destruction, 
to cherish and never take more than our due.

And these are the gifts we must share with our children, 
compassionate love and a God-given grace,
this love with no limits pervades all creation 
from oceans and forests to infinite space.

Andrew Pratt 14/6/2021
Words © 2021 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk. Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd
Metre: 12.11.12.11
Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO

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